Monday, November 30, 2009

Democracy in Honduras won with the elections

Honduras rewrote its history by saying again NO to any attempt to subvert its democracy and constitution. Honduras with a remarkable participation rate (see el Blogicito de la Gringa http://lagringasblogicito.blogspot.com/2009/11/hondurans-will-they-vote-or-stay-at.html for data on abstentionism for all elections) in spite of the psycological warfare done by members of the "Resistencia", heavy rains, and all the commotion with Zelaya's legal removal, went to the ballot boxes and voted massively.

Make no mistakes. Here we do not have winners or loosers in this election. I believe that my vote, the same as all the people who voted in the election, is a clear and unambiguous message, to all politicians that we want to move on and we want change in our country.

With our vote we are sending now the clear message that the politics of yesterday will no longer be tolerated. We want to see well thought, effective and targeted policies and programs that will address the highest priority problems including poverty, security, health, education and living quarters, without forgetting that we need to modernize our economy and become more competitive.

Not addressing priority problems will continue to be the breeding ground for discontent and for other "Messiahs" such as Mel Zelaya to come along and sell us snake oil one more time. We do not want to see any more cronyism, nepotism, improvisation and buffoonery, and the fact that becoming a civil servant meant winning the lottery for a lot of people, that characterized many previous administrations, not only that of Zelaya.

As of a couple of minutes ago according to Honduran newspapers,Mr. Pepe Lobo seems to be the virtual winner of this contest and will likely be the next President of Honduras. So, Mr. Pepe Lobo, the people have trusted you and have given you a vote of confidence that you will lead us to the XXIst century and thus evolve as a nation. I know that you know that Honduran vote this time is not unconditional, rather that this is a new pact with the country. We will be following Mr. Pepe Lobo's administration very closely. However, this is the time too to contribute to this process with ideas and proposals for making our dream of a better Honduras possible. So, I would encourage everybody to do so as soon as possible.

2 comments:

Congratulations on what you, your compatriots, and your country did yesterday, Jose!

Now the hard work starts (and maybe it's our last chance, as I said before): Lobo y cia have GOT to do something about poverty and socio-economic inequity in Honduras. That does not convert to arbitrarily raising minimum wages like Zelaya did, but we need, somehow, to change the national mindset and break it out of the semi-rural, agrarian economic mold that it's been in forever. I know, that's much, much easier said than done, but I'm hoping that Lobo's got the drive, intelligence, imagination, and vision that will make Honduras change, and change for the better..

Thanks. I agree completely. We do need to modernize the country, including the semi-feudal and the mercantile (in the original sense of the term) economies that we have co-existing in Honduras. All those monopolies and duopolies created after the "privatization" and those still under state control have to be re-thought and acted upon. Lots of things to do.

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I'm a Research Fellow, working for the Environment and Production Technology Division at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)in Washington, DC. The opinions in this Blog are mine and mine only. Nothing can be attributed to my employer nor any of my colleagues and other staff members at IFPRI.